Trial begins in DVI cellmate slaying

STOCKTON - A trial began Tuesday for a state prisoner charged with slaying his cellmate at Tracy's Deuel Vocational Institution, having already killed another man at a different California prison.

Jennie Rodriguez-Moore

STOCKTON - A trial began Tuesday for a state prisoner charged with slaying his cellmate at Tracy's Deuel Vocational Institution, having already killed another man at a different California prison.

Defendant John Joseph Lydon, 39, told correctional officers he murdered his cellmate John Guy Alexander because he didn't want to be housed with a child molester, according to court papers filed by Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau.

Lydon arrived to the institution's receiving center June 2, 2010, and he was housed with Alexander following an inmate screening.

Lydon approached a correctional officer the next evening after dinner, requesting to speak to the sergeant. When asked why, he responded:

"Well, because I just killed my cellie and I stuffed him under my bunk, and also I'm feeling suicidal."

Investigators testified Tuesday they found Alexander underneath Lydon's bed, as he had confessed, with a ligature around his neck and his head wrapped in a towel. Alexander's hands were tied behind his body.

The nurse who had screened Lydon the day before testified he didn't mention he felt suicidal or homicidal during the interview.

"He was very alert. You know, seemed to be happy," said Nelly Lerot, who now works at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione. He did, however, admit to having a history of suicidal attempts.

Lydon came to Deuel with a court order saying he had to take psychiatric medication, Lerot confirmed during cross examination by Deputy Public Defender Michael Bullard.

Court papers say Lydon claimed he told prison staff he was a single-cell inmate but he was still placed with Alexander.

"I said I'd move in with anybody, white, black, just not a child molester," Lydon said, according to documents.

If Lydon is convicted of the murder, he will seek to be found insane based, in part, to post-traumatic stress disorder in connection to his own child molestation.

Lydon says he was a victim of Catholic priest John Geoghan, of the Boston Archdiocese. Geoghan was convicted for molesting a boy and sentenced to prison in 2003. He was murdered in prison.

Lydon claims that being in such close quarters - a cell 6 feet by 9.8 feet - with Alexander caused insanity and stress.

Lydon has killed in a similar fashion before in prison.

On Aug. 1, 2004, he was serving a sentence for a deadly robbery in Pleasant Valley Prison when he strangled his cellmate, Phillip Kunkle, to death. Kunkle was a convicted child molester.

In that case, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life to be served consecutive to his prior sentence.